Shadows of Konoha: Bonds
by Amora Journeys
Summary: Sasuke Uchiha has been running ever since the Fourth Shinobi War. But everyone has their limits.
1. Lesson One

**Author's Note:**

-This is a sequel to my fic Shadows of Konoha. It's possible to read this one without reading the first one, but no whining if you get confused.

-So, the manga... as far as I'm concerned I have my own retelling of events that happened during the Fourth Shinobi War that still follows a loose outline of what is currently happening. On an aside, I'm not a big fan of how this war is ending.

-If you're a newcomer to my style of writing... good luck.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto

* * *

**Lesson One**

**Power**

* * *

**x**

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha stared at the ragged edge of kusanagi. His grip tightened in anger and the blade rattled in the loose hilt. The stench of the swamp clung to the gaunt bones of his face. The Uchiha Clan emblem was pressed against the slick moss covered tree. Years of toil has mutated the proud white section of the Uchiha fan to black.

Sasuke's eyes snapped up at a sudden sound of cloth brushing past leaves. He stared out towards the still green water. A crocodile dipped under the surface and created a ripple that traveled towards him. He could never trust his eyes anymore.

Sasuke activated his sharingan. Immediately he noticed details he couldn't see before. One the other side of the bank, the ground had been impressed underneath a soft footprint. The slight movement of leaves was more than just the wind.

Sasuke leaped, just as a barrage of shuriken rained down on the space he had just vacated. He landed on the surface of the still water. Ripples traveled underneath his feet. Sasuke flipped backwards as the maw of a water dragon lifted into the air.

Lightning crackled along the edge of kusanagi like a flock of disturbed crows. Sasuke spun, cutting through the water infused jutsu to face the sturdy metal of a kunai. Sasuke stared into the blank white mask of a Kiri Hunter-nin. Sasuke perceived the twitch of muscle, avoided the kunai's thrust, and countered a quick swipe across the hunter-nin's neck.

The brittleness of Sasuke's sword butchered the cut, stuck awkwardly on the bone, and it resisted when Sasuke attempted to pull it out. He whipped around, sucked air in his chest to fan the bellows and released a hell of black fire onto the hunter-nin coming behind him. With a twist of his wrist, Sasuke wrenched loose his sword and set off at a run down the river.

His black flames were like a beacon and knew if he didn't leave soon, hunter-nin from every country would soon be on his tail. Sasuke was an Uchiha and he didn't run away, but he had enough reason to know when a tactical retreat was viable.

Shadows flitted on both sides of the bank. A green mist, with the stench of the rotten swamp thickened and condensed around him. Sasuke focused his sharigan, perceived a disruption in the mist, and jumped over a fuma shuriken. Sasuke raised kusanagi to deflect the approaching katana and sent a charge of lightning through the blade.

A crack as soft as a ripple of water.

Then shards of metal shattered into the air. The hunter nin's blade cut through skin and caught on bone before Sasuke jumped away. Blood rapidly stained the sleeve.

Sasuke stared at a broken kusanagi with awful detail. The fragment he held formed a ridge of menacing mountains. The cracks were as deep as broken ice. Sasuke lifted his head to reveal the full weight of an eternal mangekyo sharingan, made all the more powerful by Sasuke's anger.

The hunter-nin died screaming in a hellfire of blackflames.

Sasuke didn't bother to wipe the blood dripping from his eye as he sped down the winding river of the swamps. He skidded to a stop at the sight of four Leaf Hunter-nin waiting at the river's mouth.

Sasuke threw down one of his last smoke bombs. Then he swiped the blood from his wounded shoulder and slapped it as a bloody handprint on the summoning scroll.

Sasuke tightened his hands around the fur of his summon as they emerged from the smoke toward the clouds. Sasuke whipped his head around at the sound of caws and found a murder of crows chasing after him, following far enough at a distance to keep out of range of Sasuke's fire jutsu.

Sasuke urged his summon faster but the large bird of prey couldn't outrun the small darting birds. Sasuke broke through the clouds and the sun screamed into his eyes. Then he released his summon and fell. The wind rushed around him, billowing his tattered clothing and whipping his long outgrown hair about his face.

The murder of crows dived after him, but not fast enough to catch Sasuke before he dived into the sea.

The tide washed Sasuke to shore. He coughed salt water from his throat as he dragged himself through the sand. He collapsed, the exhaustion racked pain through his lungs, sand clung to his forearms, and the heat of the sun melted down his neck.

Finally Sasuke deactivated his sharingan and the pain in his temples eased. As the pain eased, the world around him began to blur. What had once been the sharp veins of a palm tree was now an indistinguishable mass of green. Sasuke took a breath as he watched the sky, then tensed at the sight of a black dot in the clouds.

Sasuke reactivated his sharingan and that black dot came into clear focus to reveal one of the crows from earlier. The fire in Sasuke's lungs had spread to his legs when he pushed himself onto his feet.

Sasuke Uchiha kept running.

* * *

It's been a long time since Sasuke approached civilization. He dragged his feet toward the hard gates of Iron Country's capital. The samurai guards at the gate didn't stop him, mistaking one of the world's most dangerous international criminals as a mere beggar.

Sasuke bristled in annoyance at the sudden noise and congestion of the crowd. His hand twitched toward the broken sword hidden in his belt. Sasuke plowed through the shoulders of those too stupid to be in his way.

Sasuke finally came to a stop. He squinted at the faded kanji written on the unhinged sign. He stared at a closed down shop and he had never felt his own exhaustion until now. Sasuke reached out his hand and plucked someone from the crowd.

"What happened to this shop? Where did the owner go?" Sasuke demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just a tourist." The man shivered as he stared into the wrath of Sasuke's eyes.

"You! Public disturbances are not allowed."

Sasuke craned his neck toward the pair of samurai that were approaching him. Immediately, Sasuke activated his sharingan and grew smug to watch the samurai take a step back in hesitation. Then they gathered their fortitude and placed their hands to their swords.

Sasuke shoved the civilian out of his way. He reached for kusanagi, and then remembered. He would have reached for a kunai but he ran out of those a long time ago. Instead, his stomach growled, a loud roaring restless beast.

The samurai charged him. Sasuke could see every fold of iron that went into forging their armor, every drop of sweat drenched onto those steel plates, and every weathered year pressed into the hilt of their swords. Sasuke moved to evade the quick draw of their blade.

But his body didn't move as quickly as he wanted it to.

Sasuke winced and very much surprised to find a sword hilt had suddenly slammed into his gut. A force of chakra knocked him off his feet and he went crashing backwards into the ruin of the closed down shop. Iron pinned him to the floor. A fallen beam suffocated his wrist and prevented him from using any jutsu to escape.

Sasuke's sharingan deactivated as he could no longer maintain it in his physical condition. The blurry forms of the samurai approached.

* * *

Sasuke opened his eyes to the soft blur of pink cherry blossoms. He winced, pulled himself up from the futon, and immediately studied his surroundings. Pinned to a hook on the wall was Sasuke's shirt, still torn in rags but cleaned. It's been a long time since Sasuke saw color in the Uchiha emblem.

There were other clothes provided for him, fresh and crisp, but Sasuke put on his old rags. He slid his shirt over the bandaged wound on his shoulder. It had gotten infected over the past few weeks. Once again, unwanted, Sasuke's stomach growled. He ignored it for its disobedience.

The screen panels were drawn back, which allowed a view of the gardens and cherry blossoms that were toiled from the harsh Iron terrain.

Sasuke tensed when he heard approaching footsteps. His eyes frantically searched for a weapon, found nothing in the room that would suffice, and prepared a jutsu instead. The door to his room slid open. A samurai bowed before him.

"Where are my things?" Sasuke demanded. He didn't have much to begin with but he couldn't afford to lose his Hawk Summoning Scroll.

"Uchiha-sama, the Shogun will see you now."

The tension in Sasuke's shoulders eased. He knew if they wanted to kill him, they would have done so already. These people wanted something from him and he planned to take full advantage of their hospitality.

Sasuke followed the samurai up the narrow stairs. Servants bowed as he passed, and a small part of Sasuke, the part that contained his dignity, wallowed in the acknowledgement of respect. The door slid open.

Mifune hadn't changed much since the last time Sasuke saw him, but when you're that old, there was little else time could do to you but add a wrinkle or two. Mifune sat down a cup of tea and motioned to a tray of food across from him. "Uchiha-san, feel free to eat."

Sasuke's composure might have been compromised too much when his feet felt a sudden need to rush. He sat down before the tray, didn't care whether or not it was poisoned, he abandoned 'itadakimasu' with his manners, and attacked the food spread out before him.

"Who would have thought that the last Uchiha almost dies of starvation?" Mifune mused. Sasuke shot Mifune a smoldering gaze, but never stopped shoveling food into his mouth, hardly savoring the taste. Mifune sipped on his tea and allowed his guest to finish his meal.

The moment Sasuke was finished, "Where is the blacksmith, Kimura Toshio?"

Mifune was not harried by Sasuke's haste. He savored his tea.

"I'm afraid Toshio died years ago. There is no longer a blacksmith alive that can fix Kusanagi." Mifune gave a mournful nod toward the weathered hilt in Sasuke's belt.

Sasuke rose to his feet, but only after finishing his meal. As far as he was concerned, he no longer had any business in the Land of Iron.

"Sasuke Uchiha, aren't you tired of running?"

Sasuke cocked his head and looked down on the old samurai. With a sneer, he replied, "I don't need any help from you."

"I think you do," Mifune replied. "I can offer you asylum and give you a place where you can hide from the hunter-nin. I have met many who run towards my borders to escape their past. I am fully aware of how these hunter-nin operate. A hunter-nin's most effective weapon is psychological. The best won't try to capture you, but do just enough to wear you down. What they lack in strength is substituted by their vast reservoir of patience. Maybe the hunt will take days, weeks, or even years, but eventually even the strongest of ninja will break. The hunted get tired of running, they fall down on their knees, and beg for death. Will the last Uchiha die begging?"

Sasuke met the hard iron of Mifune's eyes with a glower. But deep in Sasuke's reason, he knew it was true. He was out of kunai, smoke bombs, and shuriken. Kusanagi has betrayed him. He hasn't had more than a few hours' sleep in two years. "What do you want?"

"You are going to assassinate the Third Tsuchikage."

Sasuke crossed his arms and looked indifferent, as if someone had just informed him that it was raining while standing outside in the rain. "I thought the Land of Iron was a neutral country."

"The Land of Iron is a neutral country," Mifune corrected, "and we certainly can't predict the whims of international criminals. Currently, Oonoki is suffering from an illness. He will be the most vulnerable during the Jounin Exams."

"I see," Sasuke brooded.

"You succeed and Iron Country will offer you safe haven."

Sasuke raised his chin and declared, "you will also teach me what you know of kenjutsu."

Mifune smiled at Sasuke's attempt to bargain a Tsuchikage's life. "I haven't taken on a student in so long…" Mifune felt the decay of his bones. "Is there someone you want to kill?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed and could taste the overwhelming flames of hatred that has kept him going for so long, and the bitter after taste of defeat.

"I accept our agreement," Sasuke replied, even though Mifune hadn't audibly consented to Sasuke's modification of the bargain.

Mifune sipped his tea in the silence of his unanswered question. He watched Sasuke walk from the room wearing hatred like armor.

* * *

They once called him Ōnoki of the Both Scales, bestowed upon him during the Second Shinobi War because of his ability to level out a battlefield. Nowadays, he could barely level out a cough.

From his bed, Ōnoki could see the mountain that protected and supported Iwagakure out of his window. Those old mountains were still as rigid as when he was a kid. They never bowed nor did their backs ever break.

Ōnoki blamed his bed. It was too soft. Beds simply were not meant for the hard backs of ninjas. He sincerely believed that if he has spent his entire life sleeping on the cold hard ground, his back would have never gone soft on him.

His chest quaked and erupted coughs of blood down his chin. Ōnoki knew everyone was waiting for him to buckle under his pride and finally send a message to Tsunade-hime for assistance. But his stubbornness – that at least will never bend. He had to hang on just a little while longer, at least to see his granddaughter make Jounin.

Ōnoki's chakra tense when the stones whispered of an intruder. The liver spots that dotted his hand clenched through the sheets as he forced his back to sit up. Wind rushed through his bed-robes as he flew and barely missed the lightning jutsu that seared into his soft feathered bed. About time someone destroyed it.

"Who sent you?" Ōnoki demanded as he floated in the air and analyzed the intruder covered in a nondescript black.

The intruder pulled down his black cowl and activated the distinctive red eyes in answer to the Tsuchikage's question. There was only one person left alive with those eyes. Unless Madara came back to life, again. That bastard.

"Which country hired you?" Ōnoki asked after observing the smaller frame which betrayed the younger Uchiha. He thought it was a brilliant tactic for a country to hide behind the actions of an international criminal and couldn't believe he didn't think of it himself. Ōnoki somewhat felt smug at the efforts someone has gone through to kill such an old frail man such as he.

Then Ōnoki blasted from the ceiling with rocks molded over his arms. Dust shrouded the sudden wreckage of the Kage's tower. But Ōnoki's assistants were used to it and they could build another one in seconds. Ōnoki lifted into the air and searched for the intruder among the dust.

Ōnoki erected a wall of earth between him and the sudden eruption of black flames. With an instincts honed from years of battle, Ōnoki unconsciously began to turn as a chirp of lightning struck from behind.

The tense molecules of chakra grazed against Ōnoki's cheek right before the wind rushed up his robes and vaulted him away from the attack. Ōnoki released lungs full of fire, targeting the ragged visage of a fan.

The inferno of heat swept across Sasuke's body and melted fabric into his skin. Scraps of cloth drifted to the dirt, lit like fireflies by embers. Sasuke stared as the Uchiha emblem burned away into nothingness.

Sasuke's vision rimmed red with rage. He looked up at the mountain that overshadowed him, then began to dwarf him. The Tsuchikage threw the mountain forward.

The mountain broke on the back of Susanoo.

Sasuke darted out of the dirt, perceived the infamous dust technique bolting towards him, twisted out of its path, and another mountain range crumbled behind him. Out of the omniscient dust, Sasuke emerged and a kunai landed in the Tsuchikage's chest.

Ōnoki grumbled. When he was younger, he could throw five mountains without so much as a blink. Now, his back simply wasn't what it used to be. He hurt in sometimes odd and random places. He moved slower, slow enough for some upstart arrogant young ninja to finally catch him.

* * *

The wind rushed through Sasuke's hair as he fell from the roof and twisted as the ground rapidly approached his face. Sasuke outstretched his arm. A breeze swirled around his palm, flickered out of his control, and then a gust barely padded his fall. Sasuke fell against his shoulder with a grunt.

Then Sasuke pushed himself from the ground and tightened his fist around his growing control of wind chakra. It had taken him a year to fully master the Earth affinity. Sasuke sat up and testily put his hands together in a series of seals. Imprinted in his sharingan was the memory of a battle from years ago.

A translucent cone began to form between Sasuke's palms. After a few seconds of concentration, the dust release technique backfired and Sasuke was thrown backwards, through the wall of his house, and into the koi pond on the other side. Drenched, Sasuke gave a smug smile. He had expected the technique to backfire, but with his growing control of the wind affinity, he was getting closer to the power of the Tsuchikage.

"Musashi-sama, your appointment with the Shogun is in a few minutes."

Sasuke didn't flinch at the pseudonym. After a few years, you eventually get used to what people call you. Sasuke climbed out of the pond, dragged his weighed clothes toward the porch, and sat down overlooking the torn garden. In the right corner, a path of shrubbery never grew back after being burned down by an altered form of amaterasu. A sinkhole, the result of an earth jutsu that went awry, has never been fixed. This poor garden has weathered Sasuke's years.

Without comment, Sasuke's apprentice, Kusunoki, began to repair Sasuke's damaged shoulder. After the first few months in Iron Country and injuries that rendered Sasuke immobile, Mifune went to great lengths to find Sasuke a personal medic. It was rare for an individual to be born with a substantial amount of chakra in Iron Country, and when discovered they were typically forced to become medics for the samurai corps. Kusunoki, instead was offered an apprenticeship under Sasuke's tutelage.

"You're overcompensating again. Apply the chakra evenly," Sasuke observed. Sasuke wasn't a medic ninja but there were some basics even he could help the kid with.

Kusunoki, whose chakra was seen as a pariah amongst his family, jolted at the criticism even though Sasuke's voice didn't contain any malice but a cool observation of the facts. "I deeply apologize, Musashi-sama."

Sasuke gruffly ignored the boy's insecurities. "When I return we will commence with your genjutsu training."

It was forbidden to teach anything other than medical ninjutsu or kenjutsu, but this kid did not have sufficient chakra control to be an accomplished medic ninja. Sasuke knew the kid's creativity and attention for detail would excel in genjutsu if given the opportunity. Sasuke refused to let such talent go to waste because of some idiotic cultural restrictions.

When Kusunoki finished repairing Sasuke's shoulder, they returned inside Sasuke's abode situated thankfully on the edge of the city. Sasuke's stood patiently as Kusunoki began to apply the samurai armor to Sasuke's person. The top of Sasuke's head was shaved, only allowing enough hair for the chonmage. The helmet was applied. The katana and wakizashi marked Sasuke's status as a samurai.

If anyone from Konoha saw him now, Sasuke doubted that they would even recognize him. Fully integrating himself into Iron Country's samurai corps had allowed him to completely disappear from the hunter-nin's radar.

At first Sasuke hadn't thought he would prefer the bulk of a samurai's armor, but it had been constantly modified to combat ninjas. The armor he wore was light as a ninja's hitai-ite and as quiet as a ninja's footsteps. Sasuke had grown almost comfortable in the sturdy outerwear.

Sasuke left for Mifune's palace in the middle of the capital. The military center of Iron served as the capital unlike the Great ninja countries. Mifune, as shogun, was the ultimate authority. The Iron military didn't bother bending to the whims of an emperor or daimyo.

Sasuke walked the paved roads as a locomotive whistled loudly in the distance. Ninjas never saw the point of trains when they could simply outrun one, but it was the foundation of bulk trade throughout Iron Country. The citizens walked underneath the shadows of factories that produced these goods in bulk, from textiles to metallurgy.

A constant black smog always hung in the air, and at times would produce flurries of black snow. Sasuke hated it and felt as if it was weakening his lungs to breathe it in. But no one else seemed to notice, from the samurai whose armor were beginning to be mass produced to the citizens who left the factories smudged in dirt and exhaustion, but they had a job and provided labor vital to the abundance of wealth pouring into the country.

Sasuke always carried the sense that Iron Country didn't plan to stay neutral for long.

Sasuke approached the large fortress that seemed to keep a watch on everything in the city. Where most castles were made of stone and wood, this one was made of iron, almost the size of a giant metal bijuu.

Mifune was waiting for Sasuke in the dojo when he arrived.

Sasuke bowed, stepped forward in his socks, and unsheathed his sword. Even though Sasuke had learned all he could from Mifune a year ago, these sparring matches were now nothing but an excuse for Mifune to keep a constant check on Sasuke's activities.

"Still training?" Mifune asked as he unsheathed the sword. As expected, they began to circle each other, looking for openings they knew the other would never give on purpose. "Will there ever be an end to your training?"

"No," Sasuke decided. At least, not until he became strong enough to regain or surpass the power he had during the Fourth Shinobi War, before the Sage of the Six Paths took back the rinnegan.

Mifune smiled approvingly. "A samurai's blade should always be sharp." As if to test his words, Mifune stepped forward.

Even without his sharingan, Sasuke deflected the attack with ease. Sasuke frowned. This exercise simply didn't challenge him anymore and he quickly grew bored and uninterested.

Mifune capitalized on Sasuke's complacency, flipped the grip on his sword, and used the hilt to knock Sasuke in the head.

"Going easy on an old man?" Mifune asked when Sasuke turned and found the sword point at his neck.

"Must we continue to do this?" Sasuke asked annoyed. "Just ask your questions."

"You are still arrogant and impatient," Mifune said disapprovingly. "Two years and I have yet to beat those flaws out of you."

Nevertheless, now that Mifune had the swordfight he wanted, Sasuke bowed out and exited the dojo floor. Mifune could only narrow his eyes at his ambivalent student. Any number of his samurai would die to receive the training Sasuke had been given. But with Sasuke's sharingan and his natural physical abilities, he quickly exceled through Mifune lessons. But being a samurai was more than just sword-fighting, it was about building character - something that Mifune thought Sasuke lacked, especially when unmotivated.

"Come." Mifune motioned to Sasuke. They walked through the halls of the palace. "For a ninja, you are perhaps one of the best swordsmen I have ever seen. Although, your skill is built atop the mentors you have _watched_."

Even though Mifune was criticizing the sharingan, Sasuke only heard a few select words. "One of the best?"

"There was one ninja, a leaf ninja in fact, that was on par with my sword techniques in my prime." Mifune acknowledge his lengthy memory.

"Where is he?" Sasuke asked.

"He killed the Uzukage, his wife, and children in a private suite during a Jounin Exam. Per the neutrality agreements of the exams, Konoha had him killed. But the event practically started the Second Shinobi World War."

Sasuke frowned. It wasn't the fact that Konoha was willing to sacrifice a ninja for an act they had probably ordered him to do that unnerved him but to realize that the darkness of Konoha casted a shadow much larger than just Itachi.

"His name was Namikaze Sagen."

Mifune watched a glower form over Sasuke's face. With Sasuke, you simply had to find the right motivation. Mifune slid open the door and entered the room where a set of armor was displayed on a mannequin. "What do you think?"

"Hn," Sasuke shrugged his shoulders as he mused on the new information.

"Use a fire jutsu on it. The strongest you have that isn't Amaterasu," Mifune prodded.

To amuse the old man, Sasuke's hands quickly formed into seals. An inferno sprung from his lungs and heated the metal room as if they were inside of an oven. Sasuke's interest was suddenly piqued when the armor emerged from the flames unscathed.

"Earth jutsu," Mifune suggested.

A rock shattered against the armor. Wind barely scuffed it. Sasuke's raikiri didn't form a dent. Instantly afterwards, Sasuke activated his sharingan and studied the armor.

Mifune said smugly, "The armor is laced with chakra through every fold of metal, which helps it absorb opposing chakra attacks. Therefore, if you hit it with a blunt hammer, then you will make a dent."

Sasuke stood back, and mimicked the same seals he used in his fire jutsu. Flames spewed forth from his mouth, a rather weak attack, but he maintained a constant stream. After several minutes Sasuke finally let up and studied the melted and distorted break against the chest plate.

"It doesn't do well against a constant application of chakra," Sasuke noted.

And there were times when Mifune was impressed by Sasuke's genius. He hadn't even considered testing the armor in that way. "Well, this is just a prototype. It will take years before Iron Country even has the means to mass produce it."

"I want one," Sasuke decided immediately.

Mifune chuckled as if amused by a petulant demanding child. "In time," Mifune promised. Mifune turned for the door to mark an end to their session.

As they left down the stairs, one of Mifune servants raced forward in haste. "Shogun, your afternoon appointment is here early."

If Sasuke had his sharingan activated, he would have noticed the crease in Mifune's forehead and the existence of a slight frown. But Sasuke didn't.

When they walked down the stairs, Sasuke found Mifune's "appointment" leaning against the opposite wall. From this distance, Sasuke could barely make out the features of the feminine face but the style of dress suggested this new guest was an onnagata from the kabuki theatre.

Finally, Sasuke felt the tension in the room. Realizing he had stumbled upon one of Mifune's sexual romps and knowing that the man usually kept those affairs private, Sasuke immediately bowed and excused himself from Mifune's presence. Sasuke was quick out the front door without another look behind him.

* * *

Sasuke waited impatiently for his wounds to heal. Annoyed since he had left Mifune's place, but not sure why. Sasuke had pushed his training of the wind affinity but he hadn't had the same success he had that morning, which further enraged him, and further had him jumping off of more buildings. Eventually, he came away with a limp, a broken arm, and various bruises and abrasions.

"Musushi-sensei," Kusunoki's voice wavered but had his eyes set on Sasuke's injuries. "Don't you think this is madness?"

Sasuke snarled and in his anger and frustration lashed out. He gripped a hand around Kusunoki's throat and snatched him forward. "Madness is training my ass off all my life and still only being second-best. Just heal me and shut the fuck up."

Kusunoki was thrust away and the boy gasped for air as he fell against the mat. Kusunoki reached with trembling fingers to the scars on his neck where Sasuke's fingernails had clung too deeply. But he was used to Sasuke's sudden bouts of rage, especially during a bad training day. He gathered himself, picked himself up, and focused on his duty. He finished healing Sasuke without another word.

Sasuke's jaw tightened and reasoned that the kid needed to toughen up anyways. After Kusunoki finished, he began to alter the room, and lay out the futon for Sasuke. By the time Sasuke had dressed for bed, he still felt sore from his injuries but knew Kusunoki had done the best he could.

The pane was slid open slightly to allow a breeze. A sliver of moonlight filtered into the room. Sasuke laid down on the futon.

"Is there anything else you need?" Kusunoki said with bowed head but Sasuke could hear the hesitation.

With a sigh, Sasuke motioned the kid forward. Kusunoki's soft steps shuffled forward, until he got close enough for Sasuke to grab the boy by the neck and pull him down. In samurai culture, a teacher was supposed to teach a student more than just how to fight.

Sasuke enveloped Kusunoki's mouth with heat. He molded his young apprentice under his body. The act was much more pure than what Sasuke had experienced under Orochimaru's tutelage. Kusunoki was willing out of a sense of duty, a cultural expectation, even an honor. Sasuke had been willing, but only in exchange for power. Madness – Kusunoki had called it.

Sasuke released Kusunoki's mouth leaving his young student breathless. Then he slapped a demanding hand against the boy's butt cheek. Kusunoki immediately scrambled up and shuffled toward the dresser for the lubricant. Kusunoki returned to Sasuke's ambivalent attentions but he had become used to the moods of his teacher.

Sasuke tightened a fist into Kusunoki's dark purple hair. From a distance it looked black, the color of most citizens of Iron Country, but the tinge of color betrayed a hint of chakra since Kusunoki's birth. Kusunoki wondered if the fact that he hated it was the reason why his teacher treated it so roughly. Kusunoki's head was twisted back by the locks of his hair and gulped at the softness of his teacher's lips down his throat. He knew his teacher was a hard man, but at times, in rare moments, he was indeed capable of softness.

Sasuke thrust so hard Kusunoki fell forward until the mat was pressed against his cheek, and yet the hand that stroked his throbbing member was careful. Kusunoki felt all of his teacher's frustrations and anger suddenly pound into his ass but he was proud to be entrusted with these emotions. Always sensitive to his teacher's closeness and too many raging hormones, Kusunoki came early into Sasuke's ministrations.

For some reason, Sasuke could never cum out of anger. Sasuke closed his eyes, and for a few brief moments Sasuke had to let go all of his hate and give into the throes of pleasure tight around his cock. The tension exploded in release.

Sasuke fell against the pillow and didn't bother to shove Kusunoki away as the boy fell his head against Sasuke's chest. Sasuke had hardly broken a sweat while his young charge breathed heavily. Until Kusunoki, Sasuke hadn't been intimate with anyone for years… not until Karin and she had annoyed the fuck out of him.

Against Sasuke's will, he had begun to develop a fondness for the boy. For the most part, Kusunoki was quiet when Sasuke wanted him to be and did as he was told - like the puppy Sasuke had always wanted as a kid. And maybe really it was because Sasuke knew that in Kusunoki's eyes he was the strongest person in the world.

But Sasuke would never admit to it.

"The show over?"

The killing intent could have crushed mountains.

The entire right side of the house was engulfed in an instant eruption of black flames. Sasuke emerged like that of a fire-breathing dragon, enraged to have allowed someone to have snuck up on him. He was fucking pissed.

"Why should I not kill you?" Sasuke demanded of the intruder, and realized belatedly, much after his anger had died down, that if the intruder had meant him harm he could have easily died for his carelessness.

The crouched figure, who managed to escape the fire unscathed wore the same robes as the kabuki actor from Mifune's palace. As the figure stood up, his face was lit in moonlight and Sasuke was standing close enough to finally see through his ailing vision.

"So this is where the great Uchiha Sasuke has been hiding?" Anko Mitarashi asked with a smirk and a hand on her hip. Sasuke placed his hands together to form a seal. "Calm down, I'm not here to kill you."

Sasuke performed the jutsu anyways. Earthen bars jutted from the ground to capture her in a cage. Anko barely evaded the attacked, but nevertheless managed to slither out the bars at the last minute. She looked up and Sasuke was charging with a raikiri.

"Kill me and your boy lover dies as well."

Sasuke's crackling jutsu stopped inches before Anko's nose, lighting both their faces like the tail-end of a comet. The bloodshot eyes of the sharingan turned and narrowed at the sight of Kusunoki wrapped in the vices of a large snake summon, the fangs precariously by his throat.

Sasuke's hand twitched.

"At first I didn't recognize you, but the snakes I had on me certainly did." Anko tapped her lip. "They don't seem to like you for some reason."

Sasuke deactivated the technique and dropped his arm. The snake loosened, but only enough to allow Kusunoki to breath.

"What do you want?" Sasuke seethed. He knew he had to kill her before she told the hunter-nins of his position.

"You tell me what you know about an organization called Kuro no Keiyakusha and I'll shut my mouth about your location to the hunter-nins. Believe it or not, there's more important things going on than your dumbass."

That actually hurt Sasuke's pride a little, to know that Konoha didn't care about him anymore. "Like what?" Sasuke snapped.

Anko's jaw slackened in shock. "You really don't know?"

Sasuke gave her a dead stare. Sasuke hardly paid attention to the affairs outside of his training ground.

"Well," Anko stretched and sat down on a piece of the upraised earth Sasuke had just created with his jutsu. "Mountain seceded from Rock Country and has been fucking our ass ever since," Anko winked. "There has been a bombing in the capital. Naruto killed the Mizukage and now Water Country is fucking us from the front."

Sasuke felt really irked. Were they competing to see who killed the most Kages now?! Then Sasuke sincerely wondered if he killed Mifune if that would add a tick to his list. "Who's the Mizukage now?" Sasuke asked interested.

Anko scoffed. "Suigetsu."

Sasuke scoffed. He knew that wasn't going to last very long.

"So what's it going to be?" Anko asked, the tilt of her face revealed the white kabuki make-up. It wasn't until then that Sasuke realized Anko was a woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman. Clever, even Sasuke admitted.

Sasuke had no beef with Anko and his sharingan revealed she wasn't lying about keeping her promise. "It's just some organization run by civilians. What the hell can they do?"

"Bomb a palace," Anko grumbled. She leaned back and absentmindedly studied the destruction of the yard. "Is that all you know?"

"I know that Mifune offers them asylum in Iron Country. They create a few things for Mifune and he basically gives them free reign to do whatever they want. That's how it works here, asylum to do what you want in exchange for periodic favors."

Anko crossed her arms curiously. "And what favor did you perform to get on Mifune's good side?"

Sasuke didn't bother answering her inquiry. He continued, "About two years ago one of Mifune's best samurai went missing escorting some merchant. The only survivor was a woman named Nanami, but she didn't remember anything. I was ordered to use my sharigan to unlock her memories and find out what happened to the samurai. It took me a few days to crack that block. It was Yamanaka built." Sasuke shrugged. "The samurai were dead but the woman Nanami went on to become a top leader in that civilian organization. They are based out of a nearby province called Kane. That's all I know."

Anko tapped her feet and stood up. "Good enough, our promise stands."

The snake that still held a quivering Kusunoki finally let him go. But Sasuke wasn't yet ready to let Anko go. He pinned Anko down with a fire burning on the coal black of his eyes. "I know that Naruto is in ANBU. I know that he is wearing my brother's fucking mask. I know that one day I'm going to kill him."

Anko listened with all the attention as a mother to her child's temper tantrum. "Are you still peeved about that time Naruto defeated you during the Fourth Shinobi War? That was four years ago. Grow the fuck up."

Anko left as quiet as she came. Sasuke decided he really focused too much on his eyes and not enough on his ears.

Then Sasuke stood, staring at the ruined garden, brooding. He had been caught unawares and Sasuke did not like that. But what Sasuke really didn't like was the weakness that had formed without even him realizing it.

Sasuke turned on his heels for the house.

Kusunoki, shaken up about the snake, was still quivering when Sasuke approached. "Who was that?" Kusunoki asked nervously.

Then the room lit up as bright as an exploding star.

Sasuke plunged a raikiri through Kusunoki's chest, who at first stared confused, but ultimately accepted his sudden death. Sasuke watched as the apprentice he had lived with for two years died by his hand. Sasuke knew that Anko should have never been able to wield such power over him, all because Sasuke had _cared_. Bonds made a person weak, especially an Uchiha.

Madness.

* * *

The morning sun casted warmth across her face. Anko stretched and the sheets flowed down her naked skin. The sudden beat of wings casted a growing shadow in the sun. Anko lifted up when a messenger bird perched on the windowsill with a red message tied around its leg.

"What does a red letter mean?" Mifune attempted to rise from the other side of the bed, but his back had locked up on him. Instead, he remained in the pillow and left the hardness for when he put his armor on.

Anko reached for the red letter with pursed lips. She knew it signaled an immediate recall to the village. She read the contents, "Lightning has entered the war."

"In your favor?" Mifune asked curiously, always keeping tabs on this war he had initiated to weaken his enemies while his country grew strong. As he watched the gaunt lines on Anko's face in a rare moment that showed her age, Mifune knew for the first time in history, Konoha was going to lose the war.

Anko slipped from the bed and put on her clothes with distaste. She had finally gotten her agents inside of the main headquarters of Kuro no Keiyakusha and now she was being withdrawn. She hated leaving things unfinished, especially since she now knew that the organization had another branch base somewhere in Kiri.

Anko and Mifune had been nothing more than mere formalities. Anko needed information. Mifune took advantage of the company and fed her information he was willing to give. It had been mutual passing time. They didn't even bother saying goodbye to each other.

Anko was out the window in seconds. But she didn't leave just yet. She remained posted by the window in thought, processing all the information she had gathered so far. There were none of the suspected bombs in Iron Country, which she suspected had been moved to the branch base. But if they weren't making bombs, then what the fuck were they doing in Iron Country?

Anko was jolted out of her reverie when a door closed. She immediately peeked her head back into the bedroom and found Mifune had gotten out of bed but the early dawn revealed untouched dust on the floorboards before the front door.

Anko turned back and twisted through the windows. She crouched down and grinned as she followed the dust of Mifune's footprints to a bookcase. That old clever bastard, but he had gotten too sloppy thinking Anko had left for good. She reached for the bookshelf and began to test the wood until she heard a click.

The bookshelf opened. She stepped through the hidden staircase. As the bookshelf closed behind her, she was enveloped in darkness. Anko crept forward until she heard Mifune in a branching room speaking to one of his generals about the new update on Lightning.

Anko continued through the hall until she reached a room with a set of armor in the middle. There was a section of melted metal in the chest plate. Atop a pedestal sat a katana which Anko studied but couldn't see any difference between it and a regular sword.

Anko's eyes wandered toward the paperwork on the desk. They were design schematics for armor that could negate ninjutsu and for a katana that could sever chakra networks. Then she found a five-year plan to mass produce these products for all of Iron Country's army. Anko breathed in a hard breath at the sight of the numbers and years of planning even before now. Anko immediately knew that Iron Country was the real threat and by the time anyone realized anything it would be too late.

Not knowing whether or not she would have enough time to copy everything, Anko curled a tongue around the paperwork and swallowed. The removal of the sheets on top revealed what was at the bottom.

Anko finally knew what Kuro no Keiyakusha was doing in this country. They had found a scientific way to extract chakra from a body to power their weapons and according to their plans, it would take a massive amount of bodies, the kind of number that only the Fifth Shinobi War could produce.

"I thought you had left."

Anko looked up into the steel of Mifune's eyes.

"I thought Iron was supposed to be a neutral country?" Anko asked snidely.

"Neutral enough to bide our time," Mifune explained as he unsheathed his sword. "The Era of Ninja will soon be over for one day, Iron Country will once again usher in the Age of the Samurai."

* * *

Sasuke stared with smoldering eyes towards his training space and the specific patch of ground that had left an imprint of his face and somewhere in the grass his pride. His left leg hung limply off the porch, fractured.

He had to go and kill his personal medic ninja. Now he had to wait for the bone to heal naturally, which meant months before he could train again. Bonds made a person weak, but near-sightedness made Sasuke a fucking idiot.

He stewed in his own self-hatred when out of the corner of his eye, Mifune was rapidly approaching with a limp and blood splattered across his chest where it looked as if an animal had torn through the skin with fangs.

"Mitarashi Anko just left the capital. Hunt her down. Kill her."

Sasuke cast a genjutsu on himself, fooling his brain into thinking that there was no pain in his left leg. His leg was still movable at the very least. Sasuke stood to his feet, walked toward Mifune, and studied the old and weak man.

Mifune had the audacity to give Sasuke a shocked expression when Sasuke finally put a sword through Mifune's gut. Sasuke really didn't need the old samurai any longer. Besides, maybe Sasuke had grievances with Naruto but his brother had died and killed for Konoha. Sasuke would not let that sacrifice be in vain.

"No matter whatever you had plan," And Sasuke twisted the wakizashi even further. "I'm still a leaf ninja."

Even as a missing-nin, Itachi had been a leaf ninja until the day he died.

Mifune, a swordmaster and the Shogun of Iron Country, slumped to the ground with perceived betrayal on his dying breath. A samurai's way was loyalty, and Mifune had mistakenly believed that armor, a pair of swords, and submersion into the culture could make Sasuke into a samurai.

Ninjas.

Sasuke definitely considered Mifune's kill as a notch to his Kage's list. Then Sasuke crouched down and pilfered Mifune's blade, Kurosawa, from his belt. It was a sword Sasuke had been eying for a while now. But Sasuke frowned. The weight of the blade was off.

Sasuke spread his summoning scroll and took flight on the wings of a hawk into the sky. Anko had made him kill his medic ninja. She would have to pay for that.

* * *

Anko had made it as far as the border. She turned on her heels when the tundra erupted in black flames before her. She turned around and another series of black flames cut off her escape. She took a stand with two summons the size of jungle anacondas that emerged out of the smoke. A ring of black fire encircled her and in the middle stood Sasuke Uchiha.

The protégés of Orochimaru faced one another.

Sasuke activated his sharingan and even from this distance, the scale on each snake glistened like diamonds. A plume of fire burst from his mouth to engulf one of the fangs springing towards him.

Sasuke turned and met Anko's kunai with the edge of his new katana. Kurosawa immediately lit with the high-screech chirp of lightning. He evaded her punch, cut apart the snakes that erupted from her sleeves, turned and sent a boulder of rocks smashing into the face of the last summon sneaking up from behind him.

Sasuke fell on his back, a blinding pain squeezing behind his eyes. Anko had stabbed with her kunai, a decoy when her knee targeted a weakness like a predator. Her foot had smashed against Sasuke's fractured bone and furthered rendered it useless.

Blood began to drip down Sasuke's cheek as he summoned Susanoo to place between him and Anko. Sasuke attempted the same genjutsu technique as before but forgetting the pain didn't mean he could physically stand on a broken leg.

Sasuke grunted as he focused on controlling Susanoo and keeping Anko and her summons away from him in his handicapped state. Anko was quick and deft to Susanoo's lumbering movements. While controlling Susanoo, continuing to maintain his genjutsu, he directed the black flames burning in a circle around them forward.

Anko placed her hands together and he knew the seal she chose was the beginning of an earth jutsu. Sasuke performed the same earth jutsu and slammed down his hand the same time as Anko, effectively cancelling her attack. She had nowhere to run as the black flames imploded inwards.

A plume of smoke erupted into the air.

Sasuke waited for the flames to clear but once he noticed that their heat had dissipated some time ago, confused Sasuke reached forward in the darkness and felt the ground beneath his palm. He activated his sharingan to dispel whatever genjutsu this was but the darkness did not retreat.

He still felt the agonizing pain of his leg, tasted sweat on his tongue, heard the wind breeze through leaves, smelled the sharpness of a burnt corpse that was no doubt Anko's, but he couldn't _see_.

Sasuke attempted again, until he realized he no longer felt the usual pulse of chakra behind his eyes, as if they simply couldn't conduct chakra anymore… simply burned out.

Sasuke's body went cold with disbelief, then began to quiver with a rage his body could no longer contain – searing, quaking, blinding - finally burning within his own anger. Blood cried down his cheeks. All he saw was shadows.

What was an Uchiha without his eyes?

* * *

**x**

* * *

_**Are you still peeved about that time Naruto defeated you during the Fourth Shinobi War? That was four years ago. Grow the fuck up.**_

* * *

**AN: **I was actually really nervous to write Sasuke. He was never one of my favorite characters but I did my research and decided to give it a go. To my surprise, he was actually a lot of fun and chaotically unpredictable. I hope you enjoyed my interpretation of the character.

-I don't think I'm going to be updating as often as I did with the last one, probably only once a month. Sorry, guys. Also, this one is not going to be near as long as the first one either.

-The soundtrack for this chapter undeniably goes to: Kanye West - Power ("You got the power to let power go?")


	2. Lesson Two

**Author's Note:**

-So, this chapter has been a long time coming as I've been finished with it for some time now. But I've recently moved to the other side of the world and I've been so busy getting adjusted, etc. Sorry for the lateness.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto

* * *

**Lesson Two**

**The Five Senses**

* * *

**x**

* * *

When his anger had finally abandoned him, all he had left was nothing. The ashes that were swept up by an errant wind strayed across his scorched taste buds. The decomposing fumes of a nearby corpse could not penetrate the congestion of his indifference. Numbness clogged the shocked receptors of his skin. His strained breaths were drowned in silence.

"What happened here?"

"Don't care. Look for anything of worth. I'm tired of eating fucking rats."

"Take a look at this guy, got some damn fine metal on him." Kurosawa, the sword still stained with Mifune's blood, was unbuckled from Sasuke's belt. "How much do you think samurai armor will go for?"

The samurai armor, piece by piece, began to be flayed from Sasuke's person.

"This isn't going to last. Stealing isn't going to feed us forever. I say we go back. I hear the Mizukage is invading Konoha."

"Go back to serving that psychopath of a Kage? And I had thought Yagura was bad. No, I like being a free agent."

"A starving free agent reduced to stealing from the dead."

"I did worst things in ANBU."

Left lying naked in the middle of the clearing, Sasuke's breath filled his lungs like a hollow attempt to light an empty forge.

Never did Sasuke imagine that death could be a hell of darkness, a never-ending torturous hell of darkness.

* * *

**X**

* * *

**Sound**

* * *

**X**

* * *

Wheels rattled down the road. Wood grazed plotholes and splintered over rocks, then stopped.

The snow was brushed away like digging up dirt from a grave. A pad of rough fingers pushed against a throat, searching for a heartbeat, and found one.

It beat a struggling rhythm.

Sasuke was dug from the ground. A sharp clash of metal snapped around his wrists. He was lifted and tossed against a thud of wooden boards. Sasuke jolted forward at the sudden motion that moved through his chest. The sound of rattling wheels continued, plowing soft at first through the snow and then rattling o dry ground. The jostling created a constant clash of metal against metal. Heavy breathing labored the air.

"Old man." A distinct high-pitched voice, a child, fought with the sound of metal chains. "You're naked."

The cold couldn't penetrate the blanket of Sasuke's numbness.

"Does it matter?" Another voice, full of a fury and hate Sasuke knew too well. "It's not as if we're any better off."

"Would you two shut up?" Another voice grumbled.

"Are you a ninja?" The child continued to question. The words brought a tension that squeezed the spaces of silence. The child received no answer but continued anyways, "My dad was a ninja… but he died. Only a ninja has scars like you do."

The wooden wheels gave a loud creak from the weight they bore.

"Do you think… you can… rescue us?"

The child's high-pitched scream cut sharp, then died abruptly and left behind nothing but the constant groans of persistent wood. Sasuke released the child's strangled neck twisted in the chains locked around Sasuke's wrists. The corpse thudded over, punctuated by gasps and an uneasy melancholy.

And all was silent again.

* * *

When Sasuke struck the kunai against the table, he could hear the durable bonds of metal. Then he grounded the rough metal edge and scratched against the bluntness until it squeaked sharp. He tested the edge across his palm and reveled in the familiarity of a kunai across his skin.

Only then did he hear the sound of a beep.

"Hurry up before the masters come," urged the woman that worked beside him on the station. Every few minutes, she was always shifting her weight, and Sasuke found himself annoyed by the constant motion.

Finished sharpening the kunai that he held, he placed it back on the conveyor belt and picked up the next one. He went through the same motions as before: chink, grind, squeak. The rhythm settled into his bones and sharpened into an obsessive focus on the sounds, anything to distract him from the darkness he was trapped in.

The woman beside him shifted, unevenly punctuating the rhythm in which he worked.

The background was a constant war of cranking machines. It reminded Sasuke of the monstrous hum associated with the metal factories in Iron Country except now, in the middle of it, the hum was a never-ending roar. A blast of steam, which happened every twenty two seconds, screeched heat into his face. Then Sasuke coughed and wheezed on the difficult heavy air.

Sasuke frowned at the sudden sound of stuttering metal. The hilt of the kunai rattled loosely. Sasuke placed this kunai into the defective pile. Sasuke continued the task for eighteen hours every day every week without rest. It was a mindless repetitive task, a crutch that kept his body moving as mechanical as a machine.

Suddenly a burst of color and light sparked before his eyes. Sasuke used to swat these memories away with ease, shoving them back down into his psyche to never experience again, but this time, he lingered in the brief respite from the darkness.

The sharp ebony cut across his hand, and in the next second he found that same kunai tensed at his throat. The match was at an end.

Instinctively, Sasuke looked over at his father who sat crossed-legged on the porch observing the match. The white fragility of cherry blossoms floated on the wind and swept past the disapproving expression.

"You did well, Sasuke," Itachi said encouragingly. "Next time you should set your feet like-"

Itachi's advice was interrupted as Sasuke shoved away Itachi's helpful hand, then stomped off, shaking with an anger that perhaps he had all of his life. As Sasuke walked away, he could hear his father and Itachi begin to talk.

"Not good enough. You need to be more ruthless," Fugaku berated his oldest son.

Then the bright green of the training field and the dancing cherry blossoms of Konoha began to darken and eventually fade. Slipping away, Sasuke grasped at the details: the hard lines in his Father's face, the embittered coal of Itachi's eyes, the sturdy wood of a cherry blossom tree he had burned down a long time ago, the ashes of which, he could taste on his tongue.

And Sasuke remembered his father's words, even though they caused a confused line of emotion to cross his brow. Sasuke's Itachi was perfect, disgustingly perfect. But the Itachi of Sasuke's memories were less so. There were mistakes, if Sasuke cared to pay attention to the details. There was a bitterness between Itachi and Fugaku that revealed far more complicated motivations beyond just a brother's love.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

The tyrannical screech that signaled a stall in the line pierced through Sasuke's consciousness. The woman beside him on the backed-up station was sending him panicked whispers to get his attention.

"This is the fourth time you have held up the line this week!"

Sasuke heard the heavy footsteps of the line driver charging towards him. He heard the snap of the whip when it touched the air. He felt when the whip dug deep into his back.

"Stop it!" The woman who annoyed him was the only person to defend for him, even when he wouldn't. "Can't you see he's blind? Give him a break."

Sasuke collapsed to his knees. Sasuke's been in a number of battles in his lifetime but without the adrenaline to numb the pain, he felt every strike of the whip as it snapped across his back. He didn't bother to do anything to stop it. What did it matter anymore?

Only the whistle that indicated the shift's end had saved him from dying on the polluted factory floor.

Arms reached under him and a few of his coworkers helped him from the ground. He didn't move and didn't bother trying to make their task any easier. He could recognized their voices but he never once acknowledged them when they spoke to him. He was carried into the cell that imprisoned them at night and the iron bars screeched close.

Cloth ripped in his ear and was soon applied to the wounds slashed across his back. Coughs racked his chest, stinging the cuts. Piss dribbled down his pants, dripped onto the stone floor, and added to the overwhelming pungent smell of piss and shit in the cell.

The women finished fussing over him when it seemed there was nothing more they could do to help. Sasuke knocked his head on the soft earthen wall behind him. If he really wanted to, he could have easily twisted the wall with a jutsu, if only he cared enough.

At shift's end, he slept in a small cell with the others that worked his line. Unable to not overhear the constant gossip and conversation, he knew that all of his cellmates were either handicapped or women. The hardier men were designated to more labor intensive tasks in other parts of the factory.

All of the women were pregnant.

Sasuke closed his eyes to the sound of screams that at first he thought were those of torture, but they were nothing more than the manic screams of a woman about to give life.

The screams lasted for hours, until finally, the cry of a newborn swallowed the cell. Then the cell door creaked open and a mournful silence strained the air. The wailing newborn always faded into the distant unknown.

They'll be back for the mother. They always came back to drag the woman to the next cell over. The walls were thin and it was easy to hear the screams and the pounding of flesh. Some women didn't scream, resigned to their fate as Sasuke was to his. And how easy that resignation was - life was no longer fighting an uphill battle. Sasuke was content staying in the mud.

A soft crumble of dirt gave way. Sudden gasps and shrieks erupted throughout the cell and interrupted the mechanical routine Sasuke's life had become. He heard the distinct metal of a pouch filled with a tumble of kunai. The cloth dragged and sounded of the sort of hardy clothes one would need to tunnel underground.

Iwa ninja.

A heavy metal – that of the cell door- groaned and twisted, then finally snapped apart. It dropped a heavy thud into the dirt.

"Are you here to save us?" The woman that worked at Sasuke's side of the conveyor belt was the only one brave enough to ask. The rest had lost hope a long time ago.

The Iwa ninja had anger in his voice. "I am here to defeat Mountain."

* * *

Two weeks after Iwa invaded Mountain, the slaves were finally marched out of their cells. Sasuke joined the rasping coughs of hundreds of other pungent bodies whom he guessed had been collected from the other cells throughout the factory. It was odd not to hear the roar of cranking machinery. He didn't miss it, but it was just, odd.

Sasuke didn't put up any resistance when Iwa ninja began shoving everyone into lines. In comparison to a shinobi, a civilian's footsteps were akin to the sound of oxen stomping the ground. Therefore Sasuke could always tell when a ninja drew near him.

Then he heard a voice, one that Sasuke recognized from the Fourth Shinobi war. The voice was gruff, as if it had been swallowing gravel his entire life, and belonged to Oonoki's son, Kitsuchi, probably the Tsuchikage by now. "What is this place?"

"Tsuchikage-sama," Sasuke assumptions were confirmed, "these are the factories that Mountain used to create their stock of weapons. It's a sophisticated weapon's assembly line similar to the technology in Iron Country."

"How did Mountain get a hold of Iron Country's technology?"

"That has yet to be determined. Judging from interviewing a few of the factory workers, it seems that some were kidnapped from their homes during the chaos of the war but most are Mountain's own people…" A gulp and the advisor quickly changed his sentence, "our own people. Additionally, the women workers were also a sub-division of their resurrected breeding program."

"We could use this to our advantage and bolster the numbers we have lost in the war. Detain all the pregnant women until they give birth and confiscate any child born with chakra. The rest of the captives can be decided by your discretion but keep a fraction of the workers here to continue manufacturing more weapons. Maybe the next war will be years from now, but Iwa will be ready. At this point, Konoha has undeniably emerged from this war as the world's hegemon but it's a tentative position at best." The Tsuchikage's voice faded down the hallway.

Iwa hadn't come to liberate anyone. They came with a vengeance. But for the lives of most of these civilians, much hadn't changed.

The next person was shouted for in line. Sasuke dragged his feet forward and ran into something heavy and metal. The flutter of paper scattered into the air.

"What are we going to do with some blind guy?" A kunoichi asked. There was always something in a voice that distinguished a ninja from civilian – a metal edge.

"I don't see how he can be of any use to us. We should just let him go," another ninja replied, bored.

"Wait. You know, without all the dirt, this one is pretty. _Very pretty._ We can sell him for a bit of money in Kumo. At this point, Iwa can use whatever money we can get."

"We were on the winning side of this war but why does it feel as if we still lost?"

"Could be worse. Could be Kiri."

The two ninja laughed, that uncomfortable laugh during an awkward situation when an appropriate response was hard to find, just the laughter, seemingly out of place and yet just right.

* * *

**X**

* * *

**Smell**

* * *

**X**

* * *

It was a known fact that Kumogakure had the largest red lights district in the world, so large that it metaphorically and literally floated above all others and was an important center of tourism and income for the ninja village. Because of its cultural and economic importance the government largely left it to its own devices to expand and encompass all manner of immorality as it saw fit.

"50,000 ryo." The Iwa kunoichi pressed.

Sasuke didn't look up as yet another bidding war erupted over his person. He was among a few others that Iwa had deemed valuable enough to sell, but evidently the hardest buy as he was the last left standing.

The owner of this brothel talked as if she always had tobacco stuck in her throat. Sasuke didn't flinch when the end of the kiseru pipe stabbed him in the eye. But the tobacco was sweet and reminded him of the grass that grew along the rivers of Fire Country.

"This one is useless. He has no charisma, no spark of life - nothing to charm customers." It was the same sentiment that all the other brothel owners had expressed.

"What does a whore need with fucking charisma?!" The Iwa-nin asked exasperatedly. Her clipped words betrayed her impatience.

"A whore needs more than an asshole to retain a customer." The Madam released another outtake of smoke, hitting Sasuke directly in the face. "Don't tell me how to run by business, Iwa-nin. Besides, none of the brothels are ever going to buy him for that price. We already have to deal with a raise in taxes from that damn war."

The Iwa-nin grated her teeth in frustration, like the sound of grinding a kunai to its fine edge. "Imagine the possibilities," The kunoichi attempted to wheedle, "His midnight blue hair and brooding expression… like that of an Uchiha!" The kunoichi said with a sudden epiphany. "Put in some red contacts and you've got yourself a profit."

The Madam spat tobacco. "What's the point of having an Uchiha when they have an Uzumaki look-a-like across the street ruining my business? Come back when you've found me a blonde hair blue-eyed whore. That is what is in demand nowadays."

"There is?" The Iwa-nin asked with a little too much interest. The door creaked. "Wait! 25,000 ryo!"

"Sold," the Madam said immediately. Coins chimed, then Sasuke was being pulled through the brothel.

"Let's first get you cleaned and washed. We fuck like animals but we don't have to smell like one," the Madam said with a much softer voice, completely different from the one she used when bartering. "Then we'll talk."

Several servants, the various children of the occupying prostitutes, helped to give him a wash. The soap smelled of peppermint and the shampoo smelled of cherry blossoms. It took a lot of scrubbing to scrape away the rancid smell of factory work. Suddenly, it occurred to Sasuke that he kind of did care. He preferred the refreshing and enticing smells of the brothel versus the muck and smoke of the factory.

Finally, he could _breathe_.

The snips of scissors cut by his ear. He couldn't see what they did to his hair but there was a noticeable weight lifted. He knew from his days running from hunter-nin that if allowed to grow feral, his hair could get long and unruly, a genetic trait he had evidently inherited from Madara. His hair was framed about his face and the rest was pulled back into a long ponytail, but even after being attacked with copious amounts of conditioner, there was still that part in the back that stuck up.

The distinct smell of shaving cream was spread across his jaw. A razor slid across the thin and fine beard that had laid claim to Sasuke's jaw.

The softness of silk shocked his hard-scrubbed skin. The silk robe smelled as if it had been soaked in a tub of light perfume. While Sasuke breathed in the comfort of soft fragrances, he didn't even mind when his hand was lifted and placed on the shoulder of one of the servants to be guided out the bath.

Once again he stepped into the overwhelming smell of sweet tobacco and knew he had entered the Madam's room. Spring, it smelled like spring in Konoha, and a pang of nostalgia hit his chest, surprising Sasuke that he missed something so simple.

"Don't I know how to make a deal," the Madam greeted smugly. "You are a pretty one. I bet the girls fawned over you when you were younger." After a pause, "Are you mute as well as blind? Guess it doesn't matter. Here, sit."

Sasuke sat down in an encirclement of soft pillows and for the very first time since Sasuke lost his sight, he opened his mouth to speak. "May I have a smoke?"

Oddly enough, his own voice sounded odd to his ear as if it belonged to a stranger.

Sasuke felt soft wrinkled hands around his own, and would have hated the touch, but tolerated it out of necessity. The kiseru pipe was placed in his hand. Inhaled, he took a deep relaxing exhale and focused on the colors that danced behind his eyelids.

"Lucky for you, this is more of a high-end brothel. Even that Iwa idiot knew you were worth more than a lower-end establishment. This brothel serves both a male and female clientele. I have decided you will primarily be serving my shinobi clients. Your blindness certainly helps with the discretion they typically require and they tend to gravitate toward their own ilk." The Madam said meaningfully, having already guessed that Sasuke was once a ninja. "Typically, the only ninja with a high enough pay grade to afford my services are Jounin-level and above."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the thought. The only ninja paid higher than Jounin was ANBU, a Clan Head, or a Kage. The Madam certainly could have paid the initial requested price if she had wanted to.

"Do you understand? Sometimes ninja of that caliber can get a bit rough and there's not much anyone here can do to stop them once angered."

"I fear no one," Sasuke said with an offended sneer. It seemed while the dirt had been scrubbed off, so had some of the numbness and shock of the past year.

Sasuke could have walked out with ease, but what was the point? He had nowhere to go. Without his eyes he couldn't continue gathering and mastering jutsu. All Sasuke really wanted to do right now was finish smoking this tobacco.

Then in a very stern tone, the madam demanded, "Do not kill any of my clients. Understand that and we will have no problems. Now, we need to figure out a way to advertise you."

The smell of hot cider grew stronger as the presence of the Madam neared. "I do like the idea of the Uchiha. You do fit the look. The Uchiha are a dead clan so the rarity will bring in a demand. What was that Uchiha that made such a big fuss during the Fourth Shinobi War?" She made testing sounds before the name Madara finally came to her lips. "Yes, Madara Uchiha – the great enemy of the Fourth Shinobi War."

"That is not my name," Sasuke said annoyed, irked even.

"Flesh is not the only thing I sell here. No one, not a civilian, or a merchant, or a ninja wants to live in this fucked up world. Anyone will do anything for a little bit of an escape. I'm in the business of selling fantasies."

Sasuke tensed at the sudden pop of the button on his pants. He seethed at the sudden warmth that caved around his dick. He bucked his hips, rolling a growing erection into the moistness of the Madam's skilled mouth.

There was a starved moan, and slowly Sasuke realized he had made that desperate strangled sound.

Sasuke drowned in the smell of upturned grass while training in the hot Konoha sun, the cinnamon cider perfume was reminiscent of the apple trees in fall, the lingering cherry blossoms in his hair swept of early spring, and the fresh shaving cream smelled of his father in the early mornings. These scents gave life to long buried memories, and for a few brief moments, Sasuke could see.

* * *

**X**

* * *

**Taste**

* * *

**X**

* * *

It's been a week since Sasuke arrived at Orochimaru's base and still Orochimaru refuses to train him. Sasuke knew what the Sannin wanted, it was made quite clear when on the first day Orochimaru had grabbed for Sasuke's crotch and the cool level-headed Sasuke had panicked.

Sasuke had known Orochimaru wanted to eventually take his body as his own, he had noticed that Orochimaru was fucking strange, but it had come as a surprise to Sasuke when Orochimaru overtly expressed his want for Sasuke's body in other ways.

Sasuke decided that if he wasn't going to learn any new jutsu, he might as well return to Konoha but his pride made that an impossible option. He had come this far. He couldn't turn back now. Finally after days of reasoning and attempting to mentally come to terms with what he had to do, Sasuke sat up in bed. He left his room and walked down the hallway, deeper into Orochimaru's lair.

Not to break his determination, Sasuke didn't stop to knock but shoved open Orochimaru's door and froze.

"Orochimaru-sama!" Kabuto mewled. "I want to be one with you…"

"In due time," Orochimaru whispered, almost wistfully as his hips thrust forward and slammed into Kabuto's ass. Then, Orochimaru looked up at the sound of the door swinging wide and his smirk stretched into a wide grin. "Sasuke-kun."

Then Orochimaru roughly caught Kabuto by the back of the neck and shoved him forward. Kabuto fell over and crashed onto the bedroom floor. Disgruntled and tossed to the wayside, Kabuto gathered his clothes, bowed, and stomped out the room shoving past Sasuke hard against the shoulder.

Sasuke was definitely having second thoughts now. Porn had never been a priority for Sasuke. He knew how it worked between a man and a woman from biology books but until now he had no idea a cock could fit into someone's butthole. He knew men could be lovers, but never really comprehended how it worked. This was more than just the stroking Sasuke had thought it was going to be.

"Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru drawled as if to a frightened child. And that tone pissed Sasuke off. Defiantly, he took a step forward.

"How far are you willing to go for power?"

As of late, Sasuke has been asking that same question of himself often.

"Whatever it takes," Sasuke whispered. Even if that meant becoming a missing-nin and abandoning Konoha. Even if that meant losing his virginity to Orochimaru. Because at some point, you cross a line and can never turn back. The only thing left to do was continue down a path that even Sasuke could tell was burning up behind him.

Sasuke stepped forward. Then he reached for the hem of his shirt, took it off, folded it, and placed it on the dresser. He did the same for his pants. Before he could reached for his boxers, Orochimaru snatched at his hair and force Sasuke to his knees. Sasuke stared as another's man's cock stood upright before him. By the back of Sasuke's head, Orochimaru pushed him forward and it wasn't until Sasuke's lips touched the crown of Orochimaru's cock did Sasuke understand what his mentor wanted.

Whatever it takes.

Sasuke closed his eyes and slid the hot organ into his mouth. Sasuke almost threw-up at the taste, but he swallowed the bile and enveloped the taste of cock that had been inside Kabuto only a few moments ago.

"Suck, Sasuke-kun." Orochimaru coached his young ward, shuddering at the image of Sasuke's budding lips around him.

Sasuke focused on Orochimaru's commands. If he could compartmentalize each task, focus on the mechanical completion of it, it was easier that way. Sasuke hadn't been warned before he suddenly found himself with a mouth full of semen that he coughed out and wasted down his chin.

Sasuke would never forget the taste of Orochimaru's cock.

"Damn, for a blind guy, you're fucking good at this."

Sasuke snapped open his eyes at the sound of a stranger's voice and found himself trapped in a darkness as deep as the lairs of Orochimaru. It wasn't until the smell of tobacco and perfume wafted pass his nose did his shoulders ease and he recognized where he was. And the taste in his mouth.

But if you compartmentalized each task, and focus on the mechanical completion of it, it was easier that way. Sasuke returned to sucking off his client and anchored his senses on the distinct taste of another man's cock. Suddenly, his mouth was overwhelmed by his client's orgasm. The thickness slid down his tongue, going down salty before he swallowed. It was recently that Sasuke realized everyone had their own taste, and thus far, no one's cum had tasted as disgustingly as Orochimaru's had.

Sasuke listened to the heavy breathing of his client and turned toward the strong scent of tobacco. His hand carefully searched for the ashtray and lifted the kiseru pipe still warm with heat. Sasuke fitted the fine shreds of tobacco, heated the base and allowed the sweet taste to overwhelm his mouth.

Sasuke flinched at the sudden hand on his arm, and it took several seconds for him to put down the kiseru aimed like a kunai. Sasuke gave in to his client's wants and descended on a mouth that tasted of cigarette and a hint of fish and rice.

Sasuke often found his male clients easier, at least it was familiar territory. He was still rather intimately uncomfortable around women, a fact the Madam had caught onto, and normally paired Sasuke with men unless the money was really good.

The client released him roughly, but Sasuke was used to that. The heat of his client's breath spat, "I killed my wife."

Sasuke wasn't sure if the man was angry about it or regretful.

"Came back from the war and found her fucking the neighbor… then I killed her."

There were times when the clients weren't interest in sex but instead would pay thousands of ryo just to lighten the demons from their chest. After all, what secrets could a blind prostitute possibly betray?

That was a part of the fantasy Sasuke realized ninja craved the most - not comfort, not sex, but someone to trust. Once upon a time, Sasuke would have regarded the craving as a weakness – something that eerily resembled bonds – but now, he just felt empty.

* * *

**X**

* * *

**Touch**

* * *

**X**

* * *

It seemed as if every blind person in the Four Shinobi Nations could play the biwa, except Sasuke. He didn't know whether or not it was a matter of applying the right force to the strings but his songs were always discordant and ended when an unexpected snap under his hand.

It frustrated Sasuke that he sucked at it, which is why he obsessively set himself to mastering the skill during his free time. If only Sasuke could _see_ someone play.

Warmth began to flush against Sasuke's cheeks and he knew the sun was rising. Sasuke had always enjoyed silence but he had learned to appreciate the bird songs of the early morning.

There was a knock at his door. It was a quick and assured rasp, not at all hesitant. Sasuke did not bother getting up to greet the Madam when the door slid open. "Madara, I would like you to meet our newest addition."

It was customary for the Madam to introduce the newest "recruit" to everyone. Sasuke did not feel like going through the trouble of getting up just to meet a stranger. Sasuke stayed seated in front of the open window with an estranged "Hn."

"Madara caters to most of our male ninja clientele and has made quite a name for himself in the past few months. Madara, I would like you to meet our Naruto Uzumaki."

Sasuke frowned. He finally turned his head and focused on the second set of breathing, but that only gave him an approximate direction, and could never focus his eyes exactly on his target.

"He looks rather convincing if not a tad too old for my tastes but draw some lines on his face and it will work. Everyone is to call him Naruto for authenticity. Hopefully we can…"

Sasuke tightened his hand around the silver edged tip of his cane, always slightly cold to the touch. At first, Sasuke hated the damn cane but it was better than having to rely on the servants to always get around. Sasuke brought it underneath him and picked himself up, navigating around the items that sometimes the servants and clients moved around in the room. Sasuke ignored the Madam and walked straight toward this "Uzumaki". At once, Sasuke thrust out his hand and literally slapped his palm into the stranger's face.

"Does he do this all the time?" came an awkward chuckle that vibrated against Sasuke's hand.

"No actually," The Madam said quite surprised.

Sasuke touched the man's face and studied the features, wondering, perhaps too paranoid, if this was the real Naruto. It was highly improbable as he had lost the hunter-nin years ago and from what he understood, Naruto was currently Hokage… but there was always the possibility. Were these the features that the Naruto Sasuke remembered would eventually mature into? Will that high-pitched voice of Naruto's childhood one day evolve into the deep baritone that had just rumbled through Sasuke's palm?

For several long minutes, Sasuke stood there and wondered.

Sasuke suddenly lost his balance when the person whose face he was currently groping took a step backwards. Sasuke couldn't do much but flail his arms helplessly before he was caught in sturdy arms.

"I'm sorry…" The stranger who had caught him began.

Sasuke instantly recognized the ninja reflexes and slapped his hands together in a series of seals. Lightning bolted from Sasuke's palms and the flash of light vengefully blinded everyone else in the room. Sasuke knew his jutsu had landed when he heard the heavy weight of a body tear through an entire wall.

"What is wrong with you?!" The Madam gasped. Rushed and worried feet could be heard approaching from down the hall.

"I could have burned it down," Sasuke sneered, but he had intentionally refrained from using a fire jutsu as the brothel was primarily made of wood. Sasuke demanded, "Is he healing?"

"What?" The Madam breathed breathlessly. "You almost burned off his entire shoulder!"

Sasuke frowned. The stranger wasn't healing, which meant he wasn't Naruto Uzumaki but was skilled enough to avoid the jutsu that had targeted the sound of his heartbeat. Or Sasuke was rusty. "I was attempting to determine whether or not he really is Naruto Uzumaki."

The Madam laughed. "You think the Hokage has time to go undercover in a Kumo brothel? You're paying for this shit. One more mess-up and I'll sell you lower-end. Paranoid fucking ninja," the Madam ranted as she stomped away from Sasuke.

There were a lot of people in the room, but Sasuke didn't care as he literally shoved them away with his cane, and then crouched down before the wounded "Naruto".

"You're a ninja," Sasuke determined.

"Ex-ninja," Naruto seethed through gritted teeth. "I used to be a Kumo-nin from Snow Country until a fucking Hyuuga irreparably damaged my chakra networks during the war. Look, I don't know your deal but I need this money."

Sasuke still didn't trust him.

* * *

Sasuke couldn't get to sleep. The niggling doubt in Sasuke's head was slowly turning into an obsession and Sasuke needed something to obsess over to stay sane. He knew that he had only a few more hours before the brothel opened for the night and probably should get some rest, but couldn't. Finally, Sasuke reached for his cane and navigated the brothel hallways until he stopped in front of Naruto's room.

Sasuke didn't hesitate to slam open the door. Immediately, he noticed the strong scent of maple trees, the kind whose leaves turned deep red and lit Fire Country in flames during autumn.

"What do you want?" There was annoyance in the voice and a sluggishness as if Sasuke had interrupted his sleep.

Sasuke stomped forward, toward the voice, then completely fell and slipped backward on a silk robe. His head rebounded off the hard wooden floor. Sasuke blinked once he realized what had happened and felt strong arms helping him to sit up. "Hey, are you okay? You know, maybe once in a while you should use the cane you are holding." The ex-Kumo nin suggested.

Then Sasuke punched him in the face, annoyed, frustrated, but ultimately embarrassed.

"What the fuck was that-" Then Sasuke reached and tightened his fist through locks of hair and shoved the stranger's mouth onto his. He's kissed Naruto before but even after going so far as to shove his throat down this person's mouth, Sasuke still wasn't entirely sure of anything.

When their lips parted, simply because they needed to breathe eventually, Sasuke could feel the hesitancy, and nervousness, and awkwardness in his sudden partner.

"You've signed yourself away to a unisex brothel and have never done it with a man?" Sasuke asked suspiciously.

"I had the right look and I heard it could be big money. I figured I'll learn as I go," the man admitted, and Sasuke detected honesty in his words.

It also didn't help that they were still molded against each other from the kiss and Sasuke's semi-erection was forming against Naruto's stomach. Sasuke said with an evil smirk as he leaned forward. "Naruto, I'm going to fuck you in the ass."

Sasuke was expecting protests or outright disgust. He was surprised when he was pushed back and hands began to slide down his chest. "Guess I've got to start somewhere."

Sasuke frowned. That wasn't the response he expected from Naruto, if he was authentic, to have. Getting angrier that he couldn't figure out this mystery, one so simple and easy if he could only fucking see, Sasuke grabbed his partner's hair and slammed him down, right where the tea table was set, and scraped Naruto's eye against the wooden table.

Sasuke felt around until he found the elastic waistband of the boxers and thrust them down, he felt Naruto trying to resist but only twisted further into his hair and without warning prodded and stuck two fingers into the tight hole. It was painfully obvious that at least anally, this man was a virgin. Sasuke dug in three fingers testing the man, attempting to get a rise, and challenging his story to see whether or not he was really chakra challenged. But Naruto only squirmed underneath him and weathered the ministrations.

Without much in the way of lube but his own precum, Sasuke thrust forward and gasped when the tight heat clamped around his dick. He could feel Naruto's pain shaking underneath him, tense, and resisting the intrusion. Sasuke didn't care. He was rough and forceful with every thrust, knowing for a fact that the real Naruto would have blasted him with a rasengan by now.

After implementing every form of humiliation and pain Sasuke could think of, he released "Naruto" and turned angrily toward his thoughts. There was a slight disappointment in Sasuke, knowing that the real Naruto would have resisted him until the very end. Sasuke was no longer very interested in this Naruto now that he's figured out the truth.

Sasuke got to his feet, stepped over the curled and heaving imposter and left out the door. Now he could get some sleep.

* * *

It was the smell of maple leaves. It wasn't just a perfumed sprayed about the room, it was a scent that had been on Naruto's skin. Sasuke woke abruptly from his sleep the next day with the realization that maple trees didn't grown in Snow Country. Sasuke sat for hours, still, lost in thought.

In conclusion, he was fairly certain this guy was not Naruto but something didn't add up and he could still be a spy nevertheless. It was around noon, judging by the angle of the warmth filtering in through Sasuke's window, when Sasuke finally got out of bed. He grabbed his usual items and went down to the bath to soak and further work on the conundrum in his head.

When he entered the bath, he heard a sudden whoosh of water and then silence. Sasuke smirked, then carefully felt his feet around the edge of the bath and sat in the steaming water. "How was your first night of work?"

Naruto's voice came surprisingly smug. "I had a female client."

Sasuke didn't like that smugness, it grated on his nerves. Familiar with the layout of the bath, Sasuke easily drew towards the voice and it was silenced immediately. Sasuke stole that smugness and felt the hesitant breaths on his chest.

"Then I guess you're recovered enough to go again?" Sasuke suggested.

"Look," Naruto said nervously. "I'm not being paid to fuck you."

Sasuke reached out his hand, grabbed Naruto's shoulder and shoved him against the bath wall. Naruto seethed when Sasuke's hand clawed into the wounded shoulder. Once again, the man failed to fight back against the rough treatment, but succumbed, defeated before even trying. Sasuke licked his lips anxiously at the sound of Naruto's weak cry when Sasuke summoned lightning to his palm and Naruto shivered helplessly against the tile wall. Sasuke could have laughed. He finally found a ninja that was more helpless than he was. After all, what was an Uchiha without his eyes? What was a ninja without his chakra?

"For the love of Kami," Naruto gasped, begging, "Use some damn lube this time."

There was some bath oil, and shampoo, and conditioner an arm's reach away. But Sasuke ignore the request and shoved in anyways.

"Fuck," Naruto snapped, a lot more vocal than the first time. Sasuke had to admit, he enjoyed not being the helpless one for once. Naruto's hipbones were audibly slammed against the bath tiles as Sasuke fought both the resistance of water and the tense muscles. Sasuke held it for as long as he could, prolonging the pain in his unfortunate victim, before pumping him full of cum.

Sasuke melted in exhaustion against Naruto's sweat-soaked back. Naruto wheezed, cringing as Sasuke dug his nails further and further into skin, and asked, "Why?"

Sasuke wondered the same question. Finally, he decided on an answer, "Because I can."

* * *

Sasuke frowned frustrated as another string of the biwa snapped.

"Why don't you just give up?" Naruto grumbled frustrated from the pillow. Sasuke turned around and glared at the unwanted commentary. "Your glares aren't as effective as you think they are."

Sasuke reached behind him, roughly slid his hand up a bruise along Naruto's thigh and painfully clenched Naruto's butt. Naruto huffed, slapped Sasuke's hand away, and rolled to a safe distance before retorting, "Haven't you ever considered that maybe you're wasting your time and that you should try something else?"

"I'm good at everything," Sasuke said arrogantly.

"Except sex," Naruto replied, "and the biwa apparently. You do realize it's okay to suck at something?"

Sasuke glowered, then suddenly snapped as quick as a taunt shamisen string. Naruto grunted as his head was slammed against the wooden floor boards. Sasuke could feel Naruto's wince when Sasuke's hand brushed past the swollen eye Naruto had received the night before. Then Sasuke declared with arrogant pride, "I'm great at sex."

Sasuke hadn't expected the bitter ironic laughter that erupted underneath him. "You're fucked up, you know that?"

Sasuke scoffed and challenged, "You enjoy it." Sasuke said meaningfully as he thumbed a bruise along Naruto's shoulder, "You could have left for another brothel a long time ago."

An uncomfortable silence dwelled in the air, and Sasuke grew more smug with its increasing length. Until Naruto grumbled out, "I guess we're both fucked up. When you're a ninja that can't mold chakra what does it matter anymore?"

A fire sparked in Sasuke's chest, "That's just a fucking lie we tell ourselves to keep going. But deep down, it does fucking matter."

When the heat and the frustration stilled in Sasuke's chest, did he finally hear his own words. Everything mattered. He was hurting, as if someone had physically ripped his eyes from his sockets. He cared.

"Have you ever considered," Naruto began tentatively, "earning enough money to pay for an eye transplant?"

Splinters of wood shattered when Naruto crashed back into the table, then the bone of Sasuke's knuckles shattered across Naruto's face. The anger exploded from Sasuke's chest at the offense of those words. It was more than just his sight taken away from him. It was his sharingan, the very thing that made him an Uchiha, the very core of who he was. An eye transplant will never give that back to him.

The warmth of blood ran sticky down his knuckles. His raised his fist one more time over Naruto's expectant breath who withstood the abuse without resistance. One more well-placed strike could have ended Naruto's life for good but Sasuke's fist wavered in the air. Then his arm dropped and his shoulders slumped and he listened to Naruto's strained breathing.

Sasuke reached forward and Naruto's bloody cheek winced under the touch. With a deepening calm, Sasuke stroked his fingers down the crooked jaw.

Then Sasuke whispered, "It does matter."

* * *

With his cane to guide him, Sasuke walked down the stairs to meet his first client of the night.

"You went too far last time," the Madam said disapprovingly. She had always known what's been going on and establishing a hierarchy of power in a place that had no real power was common practice but beating one of her most productive whores to the point he couldn't perform the next night was a line crossed.

"Hn," Sasuke didn't care about her opinions. He ignored her and continued walking down the stairs.

At the sound of the Madam's exasperated breath, not wanting to continue this discussion in front of the clients she let the issue go, for now. Sasuke stopped at the bottom and could feel a stranger's eyes studying him. It was a new client.

"I thank you for your patronage," the Madam's tone had adjusted, as if she hadn't just been reprimanding Sasuke but instead, had been brushing her teeth with honey. "Madara Uchiha can certainly meet the level of discretion you require."

"He is very beautiful." Sasuke trained his ears on the feminine voice of his client and assumed her to be a woman, although he's been wrong before. There was nothing remarkable with what his client had said as many clients often remarked on his beauty, but the woman's voice was submerged in several layers he could not yet interpret.

"And worth every bit you paid for," the Madam assured her. As customary, Sasuke gave a bow. Then the client's hands were placed in his. Her hands were small, but sharp, and could easily be mistaken for fragile but there was a strength to them. As Sasuke led the client up the stairs and to his room, he listened for her footsteps, and heard none. He listened for the sound of her clothes moving against her skin, and heard none. The only thing he felt was the small pulse through her hand. This woman was a ghost, a skill above even his normal clients. If Sasuke had to guess… he was dealing with an ANBU Captain.

Once, Sasuke would have scoffed at that realization but handicapped as he was, there was an intriguing tingle of fear up his spine. His thoughts instantly became obsessed with this sudden enigma.

"Would you like some tea?" Sasuke asked. Some clients wanted to get straight to fucking and get the most out of their money. Others preferred a little more fantasy.

"I would love some."

Sasuke helped her sit before the tea table and went through the motions of the tea ceremony. Typically he would spike his own tea to make the night a little easier. The minutes began to wane as she lingered on her tea and didn't seem at all inclined to rush the evening.

"You are very skilled. The tea is exquisite." Sasuke listened for the moment when she finished and placed the cup back down onto the table but he never heard a sound. The woman didn't even have a scent on her, no perfume or spices. If he wanted to get her natural scent he had to get much closer than he was now.

"I am done."

Sasuke stood up, so familiar with the motions and the placement of items in his room that he easily cleaned the table away and moved it to a corner. Then Sasuke bowed to his knees before her and said, "I am yours for the evening."

He reached forward, slow because ninja were paranoid fucks, toward her voice and landed his finger on her lips. They were full and somewhat amused underneath his touch. He traced his finger down the jaw, the neck, and finally reached her clothes and began to fumble them off. He felt her fingers undo his belt and widen his robe. He parted her clothes, and after asking permission with a few slight touches, then he caressed his hands down her body.

Sasuke preferred men. It was always easier to get himself aroused around his male clients. Women were just too soft. He enjoyed the hard lines. But as he explored this woman's body, her ample breasts and curves, he realized that she was really attractive. Even he could appreciate what a woman had to offer every now and then.

He bent down and tasted the woman's heat on his tongue. He put more effort into it than normal, curious to see if he could make this woman make any sort of sound. She was wet by the time he was done but he couldn't force a sound, an orgasm, or so much as a wiggle.

Then her thighs that have probably crushed men between them wrapped around his narrow waist. Suddenly Sasuke felt very uncomfortable in this position and couldn't place why. Then Sasuke felt rubber pressed into his hand. Admittedly, sometimes he forgot to put one on. Sasuke slid the condom over his dick and then thrust into her- fuck- it wasn't as tight as Sasuke preferred but it was moist and hot around his cock.

Finally, he heard sound as his hips thudded against her thighs. He heard his own moans as he pounded into this hot flesh. His hands dragged down her back, where scars were stretched like that of an empty cherry blossom tree. He tightened his hands around her hips and focused on the squeak every time he plunged into her depths.

Her leg lifted around his head and shifted angles, allowing Sasuke in deeper. Then the heel of her foot dug against his hip, allowing him even deeper. Sasuke clawed his hands around her butt, thrusting her forward to meet him, revealing an endless amount of flexibility Sasuke had never seen in his clients before.

Ero-ninja.

Sasuke came a second after that realization and was trapped in the uncontrollable release of his body. The leg around his head squeezed tighter around his neck and slammed his head to the ground. When the fog over his brain had diminished he found his body twisted in the trap she had set for him a long time ago.

"Who sent you?" Sasuke gasped. But his attacker didn't bother to answer. Sasuke heard the sudden crackle of lightning, and knew in the next second he was about to die.

The door slammed open. "Sasuke!"

Naruto's voice was a welcome relief.

Sasuke was flipped over at the sudden sound of struggle, but most importantly, the assassin's grip had been loosened and he escaped her grasp.

"Run!" Naruto yelled.

That word melted like acid on Sasuke's ears. He was so fucking tired of that word. Sasuke slammed his foot on the windowsill to balance his weight. Then his hands came together in a series of hand seals he could never forget, but the chakra coursing through his body sputtered with the years of little use. In the end it didn't matter. He didn't need to control this jutsu.

Ash congested in his throat. Smoke wafted across his tongue. The heat of fire lit Sasuke's face and rampaged from between his lips.

"Great Fireball Jutsu."

Smoke began to water Sasuke's eyes. He began to smell the burning of wood. He heard the familiar crackle of fire and the brothel was beginning to collapse. Deeper, there were screams. Closer, there was a heaving cough.

Sasuke reached out, grabbed Naruto's hand, and pulled him through the window. Naruto's footsteps stumbled awkwardly behind him. Sasuke was running blindly, nor did he care when he bumped into and trampled someone in the street.

"Where?!" Sasuke demanded angrily.

Finally Naruto coughed out, "Left."

Sasuke turned hard on his heel, felt his arm tighten with resistance, and dragged Naruto to follow.

The brothel burned down behind them, alighting Cloud's red light's district in fire.

* * *

**X**

* * *

**Sight**

* * *

**X**

* * *

Sasuke stood on the edge of a river that sang lullabies. The water nibbled at his toes and the wind brushed through his hair. Sasuke didn't know how he knew but he was instinctively aware of a full moon tonight. Then Sasuke pulled up his shirt and threw away the scents of the distant brothel. He dropped his pants and peeled away other people's wants and fantasies from him skin.

Sasuke stepped a foot into the sharp cold of the river. He waded forward and could feel the vibrations of fish wafting around his legs. Then he submerged his entire being and allowed the current to float him toward the surface.

The brothel had been nothing more than an illusion of freedom.

Water and conviction dripped down Sasuke's skin when he emerged from the river. Sasuke walked forward and outright sat on Naruto's lap, invoking a startled gasp at the sudden closeness of Sasuke's wet nakedness.

Sasuke acknowledged that he was weak. And the week, Sasuke gritted his teeth to admit, needed bonds to survive.

"When I no longer need you I am going to kill you," Sasuke told Naruto, reasoning that a strong bond was built on a foundation of truth. Then Sasuke leaned forward until he could feel Naruto's nervous breath on his lips. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha."

Sasuke felt the awkward chuckle that rumbled through Naruto's belly, but it soon died under the weight of Sasuke's smoldering stare. Finally, Naruto whispered, "You aren't kidding are you?"

"If you run, I will kill you," Sasuke threatened, punctuating his point by shoving Naruto back into the grass and reveled in the taste of power he could easily wield over the other man. Then, much to Naruto's relief, Sasuke lifted himself up, faced toward the direction the river flowed, and stilled in thought.

"Do you know of a good swordsmith?" Sasuke asked.

After a thoughtful silence, Naruto finally answered, "I know of one in Rain Country but… its Rain Country. Kind of dangerous for a ninja without chakra and a ninja who can't…" Naruto's final words were murdered by Sasuke's hard expression.

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders, put on his clothes, and started forward.

"Wrong way," Naruto spoke up timidly.

Sasuke grumbled, annoyed, and turned around. This time, Sasuke roamed his hand across the ground until he found a sturdy stick. He tapped is experimentally on the road, struck rock, and then struck ground. He placed one confident foot forward.

"What the fuck is your real name?" Sasuke said while motioning for his unlucky companion to follow. Sasuke always thought calling this man Naruto had always been unseemly. This weak broken man was a pale comparison of the boy Sasuke had once known.

Sasuke listened to a tired and defeated sigh.

"My name is Iraiya."

* * *

x

* * *

_**Never did Sasuke imagine that death could be a hell of darkness, a never-ending torturous hell of darkness.**_

* * *

**AN: **

- Next Lesson: All roads lead to Amegakure.

-I know this wasn't the easiest chapter to read, but it'll pay off later.

- Soundtrack for the chapter and the whole damn fic really: Hozier - Arsonist's Lullabye ("All you have is your fire")


End file.
